Aron Mushaukwa
Katima Mulilo-In light of the recent land invasion of municipal land reportedly involving 2,000 landless people at Katima Mulilo, the Zambezi Regional Governor Lawrence Sampofu has made an impassioned appeal to government to listen to the cries of landless Namibians.
Officiating at the recent opening of a consultative regional land workshop that is a precursor to the upcoming 2nd National Land Conference slated for September, Sampofu said it was about time that government paid attention to the cries of its own people.
“I want to use this occasion to urge those with problems related to land to knock on the doors of government because land is what we fought for.
“If we cannot successfully resolve the land question, then our struggle for the liberation of our country would have no meaning to us,” the former People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) combatant stressed.
Sampofu was speaking at the official opening of the regional consultative land workshop yesterday, which was concluded last Friday and was being held in preparation for the upcoming 2nd National Land conference to be held in September in Windhoek.
“The land question in Namibia has reached a stage where it needs to be answered and government needs to pay attention to the cries of landless Namibian. Hence, this consultative workshop about the land question shows a profound commitment by the government of the day in its effort to tackle the land question and listen to the people at all levels of our society,” Sampofu said.
The workshop brought together representative from the four traditional authorities within the region, and Sampofu encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunity to “discuss analytically, the most crucial resource that we all cannot do without.”
Speaking at the same occasion, the Deputy Minister of Lands Reform Priscilla Boois called on the participants to be mindful of the responsibility they had to provide and maintain a platform for open discourse on land matters.
Boois further stressed that these regional consultations were pivotal and very inclusive, as they would allow participants to express themselves in their own language, which she believed would allow them to make a meaningful contribution.
“Our ministry is hugely indebted to the people of Namibia for their support and patience as we strive to find the best ways to deliver on our mandate in a sustainable manner. Let us be open and listen to one another, and most importantly come out of these discussions with concrete recommendations,” Boois added.
Boois also emphasised that recommendations from all the 14 regions “will be taken into consideration as they will be compiled together in the Final Draft document that will guide the heads of various delegations to articulate the views of the people and communities at the grass root level during the 2nd National Land Conference.”